Campus Conversations

Legions of Terrified Bookworms; Oh My!

February 20, 2013

Blogger: Miranda Sieg

 

So, my ideal plans for after-graduation (research on interstellar unicorns) fell through, and I cried, and it was depressing, but it sort of opened my eyes to the fact that there are many ways to get where I want to go, some not even tangentially related to unicorns. Also to the sheer volume of derpy unicorn pictures on the internet. I mean, seriously, look at that guy. But let me back track a little.

While panicking that I had no future and would become a thirty-year-old couch bum reading manga all day in my parents’ basement, I scheduled an appointment with Oxy’s Career Development Center (or Center for Disease Control, when I can’t remember what it actually stands for). In the time between learning I would not, in fact, be circumnavigating Saturn uni-back and my appointment I applied for no less than three jobs, and got into contact with five more through various connections, including my parents. So, that was cool. I also realized something pretty important: Just because I probably won’t be entering a career for another two, maybe even three to five years, or longer, doesn’t mean my life will have no meaning, or that I will not be successful later on. Yes, I will probably end up relying on my parents, and I am aware that is a luxury, and no, I will probably not enjoy the job that I do in the meantime, but one awesome thing about being me, is that I don’t have to enjoy something to find it enjoyable. Just because it isn’t an ideal situation doesn’t mean I can’t find good things about it, and it might be frustrating, but I will endure, and probably even succeed.

But back to my appointment. So, with all of these deep personal realizations about life, as well as a certain amount of cynicism that comes from being a jaded senior, I attended my appointment at the CDC more out of a sense of obligation and a duty to see it through. I went, picked up a few fliers (I’ll get back to that later), and sat down to wait for the woman who was supposed to tell me what to do with my life. Ok not really, but sort of actually. So anyway, we meet up and chat, and not only is she super helpful, but incredibly supportive and way nice. She gave me an exhaustive list of websites where I can searchfor opportunities to work with unicorns, or learn more about the technical aspects of space travel, as well as other opportunities with hippogriffs, and even experimental dragon-riding. Those pamphlets I picked up earlier turned out to be a good guide to what I can do with the majors I have. All in all, it was a very enlightening and encouraging experience, and I know now that my goal to be the first woman to take a unicorn to Pluto could one day be a reality.

Of course all this talk of magical creatures and space is a thinly-veiled guise to hide my true objective, but I hope it made you laugh. Anyway, that would be a pretty cool job. I took Astronomy last semester and OH MY GOD IT’S REAL.

That’s it, I’m going to be a unicorn-astronaut! Oxy has set me on the path to make my dream a reality! One day you will look up and one of the shooting starts will really be me and my trusty horned steed, sailing through the intergalactic medium on our way to explore the Andromeda Galaxy.

So long everybody!